Hi hope someone can help
 
I'm trying to overclock my AMD3700+ San Deigo core
 
My set up is
 
AMD 3700+
MSI NEO 4 F mobo
4 512meg cheap memory
8800GTX
Thermaltake 750W Toughpower
Liquid cooling on CPU and GPU
 
so old cpu and mobo,  I'm trying to extend useful life before I upgrade
 
I have followed the other settings ppl have used upped the FSB and CPU voltage but I seem to hit a wall at 223-225 FSB
CPU starts to fail or locks on boot up
 
These are my settings at the moment
 
core speed       2420 MHz
Multiplier 11.0
bus speed   220.0  MHz
HT link    1100.0  MHz
Core Voltage 1.39 (have been up to 1.47)
 
These are the highest stable settings I can get should I be adjusting my ram is my cheap ram holding me back??
 
Any Suggestions gratefully received

You should try to keep your HT link around 1000Mhz by setting down the multiplier and slow down your ram.

http://www.tomshardware.co.uk/foru [...] erclocking
here is a good guide to read before overclocking A64

Thanks for the reply's
 
This what I have got it to seems stable
 
Core 2750
multiplier 11
FSB 250
Voltage 1.45
Dram Freq 166
 
Think you were spot on with the memory speed
 
Temps never go over 40 with the Liquid cooling
 
I also clocked my GPU from 585 to 640 Linked mem to oc with riva tuner
 
This also does not go over 43 in temp
 

Did you try dropping your HTT before your RAM. With my 3800+ I was able  to get more rewards by dropping the HTT. My ram has worked nicely at 245 (stock is ddr400) but it isn't stock.
 
What is your HTT? I think mine is a problem over 1000mhz

Hey guys,
 
Sorry to revive an old thread, but I don't like creating superfluous new threads, and this thread is almost exactly the problem that I'm having.
 
I also have a 3700+ San Diego, and I can't get over 225 MHz FSB. Here's my overall setup:
 
A64 3700+ San Diego (socket 939)
DFI nF4-DAGF (nForce4 chipset)
1GB crappy RAM (2 x 512 MB)
Radeon X600
430W PSU (18A on the +12V)
Stock AMD cooler
 
I have the HT multiplier at 4x, the RAM set at DDR333 (CPU 6:5), the CPU voltage at 1.425 V (which shows up as 1.39V in the BIOS).
 
The system will sometimes boot into Windows, but when it does it's unstable, and Prime95 causes the system to restart.
 
It was Prime95-stable at 220 MHz FSB with the same 4x HT multiplier and RAM at DDR333, but CPU voltage at 1.375V.
 
What should I do?

Perhaps ram? Can you set it any lower?

I lowered the RAM to DDR300, lowered the HTT to 3x, and raised the CPU voltage to 1.475V, and it's running Prime95 right now; seems to be stable so far.
 
I'm going to let Prime95 run for a while; if it's stable, I'll try going even higher; I also want to see if it's stable with 4x HTT.
 
Also, I'll see if I can reduce the CPU voltage a little.
 
My main priority is system stability; that's why I've left the CPU at stock speeds for 2 years now. If I can get 2.7GHz stable I'll be happy; if I can get 2.8GHz stable, I'll be ecstatic.
 
Thanks to everyone for the help; I'll post more updates.

I don't think anyone helped much but sure, no problem.
 
I'll be waiting for the results, it will be useful if you could do some 3dmark06 before/after score or something. Oh and temps as well.

is old amd processor really that difficult to overclock?i have been hearing that from years now.and thats why i stay away and never own a amd system.

Right now it's at 235 MHz FSB (2.59 GHz) with HTT at 4x and RAM at DDR300.
 
When I did the torture testing with "In-Place large FFts", Prime95 ran for ~7.5 minutes before an error occured. This test stresses mainly the CPU, and I was running a CPU-intensive application as it was testing, so that might have contributed to the error.
 
However, when I tested with the "blend" setting, which specifies "lots of RAM tested", the computer immediately restarted.
 
Also, right now I'm posting on my computer (the one which is overclocked); before I was posting on a different computer, so I guess the fact that I can use Firefox and the internet means some stability.
 
I'll try Adobe Premiere Pro (which I use a lot for editing video), which is very RAM- and CPU-hungry, and if that's stable, I'll try going higher.

A more efficient method is running the blend test first, after setting the cpu to a speed you know for a fact it's stable. This can be done simply by dropping the cpu multiplier, if you can. An error in blend test will indicate instability in ram, mobo, and/or cpu. Although it stresses mainly the ram, instabilities in other components can cause an error. Similarly, an error in small FFTs also indicate instability in ram, mobo and/or cpu. Thus you want to reduce the number of variables as much as possible.
 
Also running a intense cpu application while running small FFTs would not cause any issues if the cpu is stable.

I never got my 3800+ beyond 2.6 and my FX-60 beyond 2.81.  Some chips just don't like to OC.

I am so stoked.  I got my 3700+ San Diego up to 2.9gHz today.  My memory was hindering me at first, but with some battling I was able to push past my first hurdle.  Trying to break the 3.0 barrier tonight!  WOO WOO!  Love my AMD!

Status Update:
 
Right now my CPU is Prime95-stable at 230 MHz FSB (2.54 GHz) with 1.475 V, 4x HTT, and the RAM set at DDR300 (although I guess it would be running at 360 MHz). And by stable, I mean that it's Prime95-stable for 12+ hours.
 
It would boot and I could play games at 235 MHz FSB (2.59 GHz, with the same voltage, RAM speed, HTT speed, etc.), but it wasn't fully stable; errors in Prime95, and it might have restarted when I wasn't looking; who knows.
 
I might try to go higher, but overall I'm really satisfied, especially as this is my first OC attempt. And I value stability, so I don't want a 3GHz CPU which is crashing right and left.
 
Once again, thanks to everyone!

Congrats!

Well, I wasn't satisfied with 2.54 GHz; other people have gotten their 3700+s to 2.9GHz; why can't I?
 
So I tried a 10.5 multiplier at 230MHz FSB, but it crashed before booting into Windows. So then I tried a 10x multiplier with the same settings as I listed above, but it's not stable above 240MHz FSB, which is a lower final clock than before.
 
Perhaps I should put the multiplier back at 11, and try with a 3x HT multiplier? I'm at wit's end, and I want to overclock higher!
 
Thanks again,
 
Duck

I was able to get it stable at 255 FSB with a 10x CPU multiplier, 3x HTT multiplier, and the RAM at DDR266. Then I jumped up to 270 FSB, and it wouldn't boot. Also, at 10 x 255, the system just felt slower overall, probably due to the reduced HTT and RAM speed.
 
Right now, it seems to be stable at 2.59 with the RAM at DDR266, the HTT at 4x, and the CPU multiplier at 235.

Bump...

Did you set your PCI Clock Synch to 33.33?  That and the memory were my first hurdle at about your speeds.  Your hurdle could also be your memory.  What brand is it?  Have you increased the CPU voltage at all?  I had to increase mine to 1.435 around that time.  Just some ideas from a noob here...